Well Control Equipment Systems Safety: 2023 Annual Report

The Well Control Equipment Systems Safety – 2023 Annual Report, produced by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, summarizes well control equipment (WCE) failure events that occurred during well operations in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) from 2017 to 2023. This report is based on information collected through SafeOCS, a confidential reporting program for the collection and analysis of data to advance safety in offshore energy operations. Where possible, the report describes details about the failure events, including circumstances present when the event occurred as well as reported preventive actions aimed at reducing the likelihood of future failures. In 2023, SafeOCS received reports for 337 events, the fewest in any year since reporting began and less than half the yearly average of 795 events from 2017 to 2023. With well activity at the highest annual level (as measured in blowout preventer (BOP) days), the event rate of 20.6 events per 1,000 BOP days in 2023 represents improved performance overall. Subsea well activity has largely driven this change, with subsea BOP days at the highest annual total and subsea events at the lowest since 2017. Approximately 23 events were reported per 1,000 BOP days in 2023, compared to 43 in 2022. In contrast, surface BOP days were at the lowest annual total since 2017, and surface events have remained relatively stable since 2021. One reported event in 2023 resulted in 48 barrels of completion fluids being released to the sea, the second reported loss of containment event since 2017.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.21949/ccnr-z626
• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/87440
• Corporate Authors:

  Department of Transportation

  Bureau of Transportation Statistics
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Publication Date: 2023

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Glossary; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 85p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Blowouts; Mechanical failure; Offshore drilling platforms; Oil wells; Statistical trends
• Geographic Terms: Gulf of Mexico; Outer Continental Shelf
• Subject Areas: Pipelines; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01972559
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: NTL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Nov 24 2025 10:22AM